From the user-centered design to discuss why the first empty two grid

This paper attempts to explain and explore the question of why the first space is the most important in the user-centered design, but the problem is also commonplace.

This paper mainly discusses the problem of not having the first space in the paragraph during the presentation of Chinese content. Divided into 3 parts:

The origin of the first space of paragraph

The role of the first space in the paragraph

Do you want a blank space on your Web content?

The origin part of the first space is more Hing, if the reader is not interested, can jump directly to the role of the first space to start reading.

The origin of the first space of paragraph

1, China

Need head

Refers to the chapter played empty first photocopy, for the purpose of the grant of the decree.

Hanzai Yong "arbitrary" Volume: "Fanson to the Yu Tianzi have four: A Yue chapter, two-times, three times table, four Yue argument." Chapter, need to head, said Shong a letter to Shane Chen 闕 pass the person also. The performer also needs the head ... Table, do not need a head. ”

Song Yang-wanri "Sheiho make son-in-law Chen Yu change Guanqi": "The Shogun of the good material, the first Yan Fenghua need the head of the play." ”

Ming rebukes "Tan Yuan Daigo-Need head": "Cai Yong" arbitrary "in the Han Dynasty chapter of the style." The so-called need to head, cover the first one, as soon as 詔 decree, Chen Yu of the play with. Do not need the head, Shen Xiezhi played. ”

Segment number

Paragraph is a means of punctuation, not just as a Hong.

Specifically, the paragraph Tichong below writing or back into the writing belongs to the Hong, but the division of the paragraph is the same as punctuation, the pauses between paragraphs is greater than the pauses between sentences, need to display in different ways. The consciousness of the Ancients ' segmentation has been very early.

The Tichong subparagraph was earlier seen Yu Jinwen. Write chapter form another heading, called "Jump Out", Today Yue "head".

In the Ming Dynasty, the "Xu Shizeng" method of the "Tangshun", which was introduced in the outline of literary style and the article, was "sectional" with "cut" or "short cross".

The ancient printed books generally adopt the Tichong below writing section way, "Ancient and modern books integration" Qing Yong Zheng Four years inside the Government copper type print is so.

1919 Hu Shih and Zhou Zuoren, Qian Xuantong, Liu, Zhu Xizu, Mayu and other Peking University professors to the Ministry of Education, "Please promulgate the new punctuation bill" began to change the traditional section format, in the "annex" stipulates: "Each beginning, must be low two lattice." "It is clear that this provision is made by reference to the first indent of the western section in order to make the subparagraph more visible."

In 1930, the Ministry of Education unified Official document format of educational institutions further stipulates that: "(1) in the 10 lines above, should be taken into a paragraph, the meaning of their own paragraphs, although less than 10 lines, can also be divided." (2) The first line of the lower two below write, the next line of the following write (segment, paragraph). ”

The example and style of punctuation method attached to the 1933 national Government's instructions No. 500 also requires the addition of a section number at the end of paragraph: "There is a blank space at the end of each paragraph, applying ' = ' to prevent adding words". The symbol used at the end of the paragraph is called "truncated" in the file, and Jinxi is renamed "segment number" according to its function. He wrote in the Book of the history of the Mandarin Movement (1934 edition of the Commercial Press): "The national government stipulates this = number, or can be used single line, can be named ' Paragraph number ' ... Where the end of the text, or the section of the document is blank, you can use this truncation. "(This section comes from" Punctuation usage ")

2. Western

English "segment number" is called Mark of paragraphing. The term Paragraph (paragraph) is derived from the Greek paragraphos "Paragraphein (pata next + Graphein), which means" (for the attention of part of the text) a line drawn beside it. "

The only punctuation mark mentioned in Aristotle's writings is this section number, which is found in some Greek papyrus literature in the 4th century BC, with a horizontal line below the first few words in a row to indicate the beginning of a new topic.

The Ancient Greek stage script and the Platonic dialogue are written at the beginning of a new paragraph with a short line (usually a small point) marked to separate the words of the different characters. The next step is to put the first one or two letters of the new paragraph into the margin of the book, making the section sign more visible. The Latin literature written on papyrus in the early 1th century to the beginning of 2nd century was found to have such a segmented method, which was more common in medieval manuscripts, which is the origin of the modern "hanging section method".

The most common section of the medieval writing in Europe is Tichong below, which is marked with a large initial letter at the beginning of the paragraph. When copying, leave a blank position at the beginning of the paragraph so that the pattern floral carvers fill the extra large initials. Sometimes the first letter of the chapter is greater than the first letter of the paragraph to distinguish between chapters and paragraphs.

Before the first-line indentation method is extended, the West has used (¶) as a paragraph number (paragraph mark) by turning the letter P[aragraph] over and over the curved part of the eye, which is filled with ink, so it is also known as the "Blind P" (Blind p sign).

(¶) A French manuscript originally used as a paragraph number in 1182, in red, and has been promoted since 13th century. Books such as the British press's "Sir John Mandeville Voyage and Travel" (1499), the best of the Ten Commandments (1521) and the Great Bible (1539), beginning with below, winter (¶) as a staging mark. Some books in western countries are still in use in this paragraph. For example, the Webster's New Biography Dictionary (¶) is used at the beginning of a child entry, making it easier for readers to find small entries in large entries.

Later, in order to facilitate printing, this subsection method is simplified, the empty position remains, and the initial letter is then printed in plain capital type. The first line of this paragraph, the Italian publisher, Manutti, was promoted from the beginning of the 15th century to the books of the late 16th century, and became the standard form of the Western-style book segmentation since 17th century.

The first line of the paragraph is indented (paragraph indention/абзацныйотступ), and Soviet scholar Is Vil Fedorovna is called the "segment number" (Знакабзацноговъ?деления). In her book "The History and principles of Russian punctuation", she pointed out that "many linguists think this is a special punctuation mark", and stressed that "if the paragraph is considered a punctuation mark, then the symbol will be ' most meaningful ', but it should be admitted that it is the most difficult to use, because there is no rule of how to follow" ( 15th to 16th page of the 1962 edition of Leningrad University Press.

The role of the first space in the paragraph

Paragraph pauses (to mark a pause).

Paragraph identification (setting the paragraph apart from what precedes it).

Do you want a blank space on your Web content?

1. The default alignment of the World Wide Web is left-aligned.

2, the network content, especially the content of the blog when writing is also commonly used to align. (text-align:justify;text-justify:inter-ideograph;) to make the page look neat.

3, paragraph first indent in most Chinese typesetting is used.

4. In the absence of a clear title label in the new paragraph, you need to identify the paragraph. If the paragraph has a title identifier (such as a bold ID), the paragraph header indentation is not required.

5, based on the common typesetting style of consideration, whether the paragraph is indented according to the specific circumstances. Most of the time, the first indent of the paragraph looks better for the overall content.

6, the readability of Chinese characters. Chinese characters are complex, but this does not affect its readability, nor the sense of oppression of reading. The ease with which Chinese characters can be read and understood is difficult to understand in English, which is determined by the language difficulty of Chinese characters themselves. The factors that affect readability include the length of the words and the frequency of the occurrence of the unusual words.

The readability of Chinese characters. The study of legibility has been published in the late 19th century, but there is a general consensus that people's reading process is so powerful that there is almost no obvious difference. Therefore, a comparative study of serif fonts and sans serif fonts, or hyphenation and not the line, which is better, has always been unable to reach a conclusion. But a clear paragraph can enhance the readability of the content. (This section of the view comes from Wikipedia's "typography" entry http://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-cn/typography)

7, the user needs the page content has the obvious arrangement way, hoped that the different type text has the clear starting position. And the first empty two (indentation) is a very elegant way.

8, the right side of the white split paragraph is obviously not as good as the left side of the consistency of space-delimited paragraphs. Left blank spaces separate paragraphs more in line with the user's reading habits, in addition to the reading habits of some languages, such as Arabic or Hebrew. Most languages in the world are still read from left to right, which is why (¶) uses the beginning of a paragraph instead of the end of the paragraph.

9, the beginning of the paragraph regardless of empty two or one space (such as Japanese sometimes the first line indent), as long as the consistent presentation of the paragraph type. Some newspapers and magazines because take care of the page content to render the width is limited, if each line of the first empty two grid, content easy to be torn apart, the readability is not good, so the size of indentation as long as can distinguish between paragraphs.

10. The first word amplification (initial) is a good way to identify the paragraph. English is used to indicate the beginning of a paragraph by capitalizing or enlarging the first letter, and for Chinese, the first word is enlarged (sinking).

11, the increase of blank lines between paragraphs depends on your content writing, simple content to increase the level of the paragraph failed to benefit reading.

12, paragraph increase blank line I think the basic will not give reading information access barriers, and long paragraphs short paragraph empty lines can indeed alleviate the long time the pressure of reading. The problem is that the excessive appearance of the empty lines of the paragraph will impact on the readability of the first-level headings and the two-level headings in the content of the article. So the empty lines in the paragraph are not desirable. (For more information on the title usability design You can read "Better than precept: Web content winning book" in the "Design of Easy-to-use pages" section)

13, the network content of the preparation needs to take care of the above mentioned 12th. Writing short paragraphs, more phrases, and using "lists" and "tables" for some information can be a good way to improve the readability of your content.

Finally, it is a good way to separate paragraphs from the first two (indented) sections of most Chinese web content segments.